Salvation workout is best exercise ever

Voices of Religion

Workouts. Diets. Athletic clubs. It seems America is caught up in a fit of fitness. The options appear to be almost endless.

Popular low-carb diets help you watch your carbohydrate intake. It wasn't too long ago that carb meant carburetor in mechanics' slang.

You can join programs to count calories or points. Health clubs and gyms await your membership. Tanning salons abound so you can be tanned as well as muscle toned. I guess this is to avoid appearing like a beached beluga when you go to the pool or beach.

Aerobics, running, walking, biking and other strenuous activities are all pursued relentlessly to stay in shape. Sizable investments are made in exercise machines and equipment.

I get tired just writing about it. Mark Twain's approach to exercise is more like my level of activity.

"Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it passes," he said,

I suppose working in the yard, gardening and mowing the lawn are good workouts, but are not as suave as jogging on the bike path.

Who wants to wear a new expensive athletic outfit, cross-training shoes, sweat bands and other color-coordinated gear just to mow the lawn?

While I may only work out with a hit-and-miss regimen of walking and calisthenics, I do recognize the value of this statement from the Bible, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," I Timothy 4:8.

A relationship with Jesus Christ is full of promise. What is so exciting about the thousands of promises in the Bible is that they work, not as good luck charms but as principles of life that produce positive results.

The simple plan of Acts 2:38 shows our individual responsibility and God's reaction to our faith in fulfilling the promise of his spirit.

The invitation of Jesus still is relevant: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matthew 11:28.

Among all of the hard workouts that life hands us, it is good to find rest.

Of all the workouts that you need to do, there is one that is most important. It will improve your quality of life and help make you ready for the next.

Take a look at this piece of powerful advice from the Scripture: "Work out your own salvation," Philippians 2:12.

This is the workout that is good for you now and forever. It's the perfect priority to include in all that you do because you will benefit from it in more ways and more times than one.

Mitch Glover is the pastor of the Sterling United Pentecostal Church on Swanson River Road and Entrada.